Catchfence

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES
KROGER 250
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS AND DRIVER QUOTES
March 30, 2009

- Kevin Harvick Puts Chevy Silverado in Victory Lane at Martinsville
- Ron Hornaday Moves Up in Point Standings with Runner-Up Finish Giving Kevin Harvick, Inc. One-Two

Martinsville, VA – Kevin Harvick, No. 2 KHI/Bounty Silverado, led one time for 11 laps to capture the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory in the Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway.

Coming from the sixth starting position in the race delayed by weather from Saturday, Harvick took the lead on lap 241 to capture his fourth NCWTS career victory behind the wheel of his KHI-owned truck. It is the second consecutive win in his company-owned race vehicles coming on the heels of his Bristol Motor Speedway win in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Three-time NCWTS champion Ron Hornaday, No. 33 Longhorn Silverado, finished second behind his KHI team owner. He led once for 16 laps in the scheduled 250-lap race that ran one lap over to 251 after the 13th caution of the race. The race ended with the caution/checkered flag fell after the 14th and final yellow flag flew simultaneously with the white flag.

The runner-up finish moved Hornaday to third in the standings with four races of the 25-race schedule in the books.

Dennis Setzer put the No. 8 Malcolmson Construction Silverado in the seventh finishing position and Matt Crafton, No. 88 Energizer/Menard’s Silverado finished ninth. Crafton sits fifth in the standings after today’s race.

Chad McCumbee, No. 07 SS Greenlight Racing Silverado, dropped three positions in the standings to eighth after finishing a disappointing 28th place.

Next on the schedule is April 25, 2009 at Kansas Speedway.

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 2 KHI/Bounty Silverado, Winner:

THAT WAS A CRAZY FINISH AT THE END

“Yeah, everybody was trying to save gas. But the first thing I want to do is thank Kroger and Bounty. They put this deal together on Monday. And it’s a pretty cool looking truck and I also want to thank the guys at the shop. They guys in the fab shop built this truck in about ten days. It’s a brand new truck.

“But man, that was fun. We got to push and shove a little bit and make Kyle (Busch) race hard there at the end. I didn’t know if any of us were going to make it on gas, but it was a good day for KHI and (Ron) Hornaday and his Longhorn truck and Ricky (Carmichael) got his first laps here so it was a wide gamut of things but still a great day to be here in victory lane, so close to home.”

YOU SAID YOU SOMETIMES ARE THE GUINEA PIG AND JUST EXPERIMENT WITH THE TRUCKS AND HERE YOU ARE IN VICTORY LANE
“Yeah, well, they make me do all the R&D stuff with the trucks and it’s just one of those deals where all the new stuff we’ve been trying for all of our new stuff coming out, and it all works.

“The other thing I want to do is thank the fans for coming out on a Monday. What a crowd for a Monday afternoon at Martinsville. It’s just a lot of fun.”

TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY.

“That was a lot of fun and our truck was really good. I just want to thank everyone in the grandstands today. To come out here on Monday to watch a truck race. A lot of these people are my neighbors so it’s fun to win close to home and to finally win here at Martinsville, I felt like we’ve been close. I want to thank Kroger and Bounty for putting this deal together on Monday. That’s when we got the okay to put the decals on the truck. The guys did a great job. A brand new Triad chassis here and they built this truck in 10 days to come here and try a lot of new things out. It all worked out. The truck was pretty tight but in the end it was good enough to win.”

TALK US THROUGH THE LST 20 – 25 LAPS, YOU WERE BUSY NOT ONLY IN FRONT OF YOU WITH KYLE (BUSCH) BUT ALSO WITH (RON) HORNADAY BEHIND YOU.

“I wasn’t worried about what was behind me. I knew Ron would take care of me unless I really, really screwed up. There at the end I was just focused on getting by the No. 51 (Kyle Busch) and as the laps wound down the left rear quarter panel kept getting a little further caved in I finally was able to get up underneath him. I didn’t want to wreck him but the closer it got the more pressure we had to put on him so you never know what would have happened. Just a fun day. These trucks are fun to race and that makes it fun to come here.”

YOU MENTIONED YOUR NEIGHBORS AND A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO YOU DECLARED THIS YOUR HOME TRACK, YOUR FAN CLUB DID A BIG DEAL WITH TICKETS AND PROMOTIONS, TALK ABOUT WINNING HERE AT MARTINSVILLE.

“Well it’s pretty cool. There’s a lot of fans that come to our shop, a lot of people from the community that work at our shop and around this area. We have some people that work for us from Martinsville and to come here a win this is KHI’s home track. We’re 35 minutes from here and its fun when you can have all of your family and friends come here and watch.”

RON HORNADAY, No. 33 LONGHORN SILVERADO, FINISHED 2ND: TALK ABOUT FINISHING 2ND

“Well, I didn’t know whether to pit or not to pit. But the guys did a great job again. We needed fuel and I just didn’t know how the No. 51 was going to do it again and Kevin, you know, he pitted before us. Mark Smith does a great job on the motor. We tried a little different carburetor strategy and it seemed to work. This truck is the one I wrecked in Phoenix and I’ve got to thank Longhorn and Chevrolet and everybody for what they’ve done.

It’s just pretty cool to come back. We had a pretty good truck and I used it up a little bit to get back through there. And then I watched Kyle and Kevin running pretty hard and I figured I was going to save it and then (Mike) Skinner started catching me and I ran back up on them. But darn, I was so worried about Skinner on the restart and I laid back too far and let Kevin get away. But I might have had to move him the last lap if it stayed green going in there going for the white.

“But you guys haven’t been over to GM lately, get to your local store; they’re a lot of fun to drive.”

WILD RACE ON A MONDAY AFTERNOON HERE IN MARTINSVILLE, YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON TODAY’S EVENT.

“Well first of all I had to go down and apologize to Johnny (Benson). I got under there and hit the curve and spun him out but I hated to see it happen. (Rick) Crawford was running a heck of a race and the lappers got me underneath him. I’ve just got to thank Longhorn, VFW and just everybody. What a great day for KHI to finish one-two behind the boss. Kyle (Busch) was slowing us up. I burned my brakes up following him and when I got to him I had to let him go a little bit to run him back down.

Heck I’ll take second. I was too busy watching (Mike) Skinner on the restart and he laid back so I laid back and then (Kevin) Harvick took off and I spun the tires. Well take second. It’s great for the Longhorn Chevrolet. If you haven’t driven a GM lately get to your local store because they are pretty fun to drive.”

WHAT ABOUT THE LAST RESTART KNOWING THAT YOUR BOSS (KEVIN HARVICK) WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU?

“Like I said, I knew that the boss wasn’t going to do nothing to mix up the start. When I looked in mirror to see where Skinner was laying back I tried to lay back another second and the boss already took off. I didn’t let him have that one, I kind of ran in on him in the corner. One more lap I might have had to move him for the win.”

RON HORNADAY, NO. 33 LONGHORN SILVERADO, FINISHED 2ND: TALK ABOUT YOUR RACE TODAY, IT LOOKED GREAT ON TV:

“It definitely was a good. Rick (Ren, crew chief) had me out there on tires and just came in and put fuel in there and I thought we were done. It started getting tight on me. I don’t know where it was, 60 laps after everybody else we did we came in and put tires on and I had to start in the back like Mike. I was really really happy with the way everybody raced today. I got in to Benson (Johnny), but he knows why. I spun him around. I thought I had the spot and he gave me the room and then he didn’t like I wasn’t there and was there and spun him out. But, that is the only incident I had all day. That is Martinsville. What the guys gave us, the lappers and the way the race ran, and when I caught Mike (Skinner), he knew I had a little fresher tires. Instead of holding us both us and playing bumper tag, he let me go by. That is what this truck racing is all about in the Camping World Series. Just a lot of great competitors and a lot of fun. I will take second, I guess. Busch (Kyle) was up there slowing us down. Kevin (Harvick) had a couple runs on him and Kevin backed up, he was guarding the bottom pretty good which let me catch Kevin then Mike caught me and it was going to be a four truck battle. They threw the yellows.

SKINNER INTERJECTS –

“…I thought you and I was going to have some old times, you and I was going to have some fun.”

HORNADAY:

“That is basically what I was thinking because they got up there pretty, but I guess I gave them too much room. When I caught them, I don’t know why, but I knocked the nose in on the start, the No. 15 missed a shift. I was just a little tight when I got right up on them, other than that I was really rolling the center a lot better than them guys but it I just couldn’t pick up the gas like they did. I’m going to work on that. Every time I come to Martinsville, I keep saying that so I am going to fix my problem, it is not the truck’s problem.

“We definitely have to thank the fans for staying with us on Saturday and then coming out here again today.”

IF IT HADN’T BEEN KEVIN IN FRONT OF YOU, WOULD YOU HAVE BEEN ABLE TO MAKE ANY KIND OF MOVE ON HIM?

“I didn’t care who it was, I was too busy watching Skinner lay back on me. So I looked in the mirror to see how far back he was and Kevin took off. I would have gave him a good run because I would roll up on him coming off of four going for the white flag and the yellow came out with it. I was going to have to move him out the way going in to one. He has done it to me before in the Nationwide car; I can do it to him.”

COULD YOU SEE WHAT KYLE (BUSCH WAS TRYING TO DO THERE AT THE END AND COULD YOU SORT OF MAKE ANY SENSE OF IT?

“First of all, you race the race like he did. He was out on longer tires than anybody else, he had less fuel than anybody else and he was protecting the bottom so he was slowing it up. He was kind of lucky that didn’t happen 30 laps earlier because he was really slowing the pace up and they were on a different pit strategy than some of us. What he was doing was pretty smart.

“I wasn’t going to come down pit road, but my left side tires did, so I did have to come down, so we were still talking about coming in the pits. That is what is so bad about Martinsville, the commitment line is far back and he was trying to rub his quarter panel off of his tire and that is the old Saturday night race track how we learned how to try to get fenders off. He didn’t do anything wrong other than going over the commitment line and I made sure I screamed about it because that is one position. To get around Kyle Busch, he is a pretty tough competitor to get around.”

HOW MUCH FUN WAS TODAY?

“The biggest fun is to see when you walk down the hill from the motorhome and see all the big haulers leave with all the souvenirs and still see these fans sitting in the stands to watch us race. That means a lot to me and I know it means a lot to Mike because, it wasn’t for the fans, we wouldn’t be able to do this. To come on a Monday and have such a great race with the rubber that the Cup cars put down, I thought the guys did such a great job all day long. The accidents were accidents, they weren’t just somebody running over somebody, they were actually short track racing accidents.”

AFTER KEVIN’S WIN IN THE NATIONWIDE RACE LAST WEEK, DID HE BRING MOMENTUM TO THIS RACE?

“He is just having so much fun driving his own equipment right now. With Ernie Cope over there, it has just changed that program around. I am really kind of mad at him for winning because it would have probably given me more chances to run a couple more races, me and Cale Gale. But now with him winning that race, he wants to stay in the car, he is going to run Nashville, he is going to run some other races that he hadn’t planned on doing. The momentum from Kevin winning a race in his own equipment and seeing how much he has put in to Kevin Harvick, Inc. from where the shop came from a few years ago, it really means a lot to him.”

DO YOU WATCH HIM ON SUNDAY AND HOPE HE DOES WELL BECAUSE I DON’T WANT HIM TO BE ANGRY WHEN HE GETS IN THE TRUCK ON A RACE LIKE THIS THAT COMES AFTER THE CUP RACE?

“We have a Monday morning meeting so I watch to see if he does well on Sunday, too. I thought he ran good yesterday, just a matter of where you come out in the pits and who you are behind, they just couldn’t get a handle on it. Jimmie Johnson was on a roll yesterday, I learned a lot by watching it. I was lifting early and doing what I had to do, but when put fuel in and no tires; I kinda burned the brakes up a little bit then. That probably ruined to win the race for me because I was good enough earlier in the race to go up on the outside of them guys and at least give them a challenge and make them pinch it down. Heck, it was just so fun.”

POST RACE WINNER’S PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
Kevin Harvick, driver
DeLana Harvick, team owner
Ernie Cope, crew chief

KEVIN HARVICK: ABOUT THE RACE

“It was a good day. We had strategy before the race and we stuck to it and in the end, it was the right strategy. It never seems like it’s right when you’re 60 laps in the race and you’re running wherever we were running in the top five and you’ve got to come in and put your tires on and go to the back of the pack. But our truck wasn’t really handling like we needed it to. We came in and made some adjustments and went back out and it was better, but still not to our liking. So we came in and did everything like we wanted to. The guys did a great job. We built this truck in ten days and tried a lot of new things on it to apply to the other two trucks, so it all worked out good.”

ERNIE COPE:

“This gas mileage deal is nerve-wracking, but other than that like Kevin said, we made a plan and stuck to it. I almost swerved off of it (laughs), but we stuck to it and it worked out.”

DELANA HARVICK: ON THE WIN

“For me, it’s just knowing these guys came in with a plan and I know how hard it is when you want to deviate from the plan, especially like Kevin said, when you’re running up front and you have to determine that you’re going to go to the back of the pack and get your tires and get your fuel. But they did a good job and it’s nice to see when the R&D stuff pays off because I know it’s going to transfer over to the other two trucks and be good. For me it certainly was a good day with Hornaday finishing second, so it’s another one-two finish for KHI.”

WITH YOUR TEAM BEING RIGHT DOWN THE ROAD LESS THAN AN HOUR AWAY, YOU’VE GOT GUYS ON YOUR TEAM FROM THE MARTINSVILLE AREA. HOW MUCH MORE SPECIAL IS THIS WIN?

“It means a lot. The Martinsville Speedway has been great to work with. They’ve done a great deal for our fan club and we do some hospitality and a bunch of things with them. It’s just fun to come here for the fact that you know all the guys are going to come to the race track and their wives and kids and families are going to come. We have a lot of family here up in the top, so it’s fun to come to places like this whether it’s Cup racing or Truck racing, it doesn’t matter.
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“These guys put a lot of time and effort into the effort that we put into all three trucks. To come out of here with a one-two finish and be able to go back to the shop and those guys know that their family got to have a good experience is important. So like you say, we do employ some people from this area and employ a lot of people in this general area at our race shop. So this is a cool place to come race and let everybody else come watch.”

KEVIN – HOW MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE DID YOU FEEL WITH RON HORNADAY BEHIND YOU THAN YOU MIGHT HAVE IF YOU WEREN’T HIS BOSS?

“Well, a lot more comfortable. I knew in that situation he knew he wasn’t losing anything. Obviously he wants to win, but he wasn’t going to lose anything by having me in front of him. He had all of the competitors points-wise, that he needed behind him. So I got a good restart there at the end, but I felt good with Ron. With us racing, unless he had a completely clear shot, it was not going to be anything crazy. So that made it a little less nerve-wracking.”

KEVIN – TAKE US THROUGH THE PASS WITH KYLE BUSCH TO TAKE THE LEAD LATE IN THE RACE

“Every lap, the pressure just needed to go up a little bit more and a little bit more and I kind of figured out where my truck needed to be. Behind him, our truck was still too tight for the conditions for today with the race track all rubbered up and the conditions the way they were. But I was able to get to his bumper there and just kind of get him up about a half a groove and got up under him. I got him up there once before and he was able to get back by me on the outside. I didn’t want to wreck him but I knew it was time to start applying the pressure pretty heavily if I was going to get by in case a caution of something would come out, you know, it just takes a while to complete a pass over another fast vehicle.”

KEVIN – DID THE WIN LAST WEEK IN YOUR OWN EQUIPMENT JUMP-START YOU FOR THIS WEEK? HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE RUNNING BETTER IN YOUR OWN EQUIPMENT THAN IN YOUR CUP EQUIPMENT?

“We’ve won in all three cars this year already, so that’s nice to have won the Shootout and have gotten the first one out of the way with the Nationwide car last week. So all our vehicles are running well and obviously in the Cup stuff we’ve had a couple of weekends where we made some mistakes and haven’t gotten the finishes that we need to, but all in all the performance on everything has been really good.”

KEVIN – KYLE BUSCH MADE A QUICK GETAWAY FROM THE TRACK. IF THE ROLES WERE REVERSED, HOW FRUSTRATING WOULD IT BE TO LEAD SO MANY LAPS AND HAVE A PENALTY END UP PUTTING HIM BACK TO 17TH?

“Well, it is frustrating when you have a good day and it doesn’t turn out. I’d probably be right there with him; frustrated as well and just want to go on to the next one and forget about it. I’m a sore loser too.”

KEVIN – THE FANS WERE HAPPY. COULD YOU HERE THAT?

“Yeah, it was pretty neat just to see the crowd, first off. That was a great crowd for a Monday afternoon for a Truck race and to see all the people come out and support us and you could see the crowd jump up. And when we were finally able to complete the pass it was pretty cool. It’s pretty cool just to be able to win here, just for the fact that it is so close to home and a lot of those people live right around us or are neighbors. It is pretty cool to win here.”

KEVIN – YOU CONSIDER THIS YOUR HOME TRACK RIGHT?

“Well you know our shop is 35 minutes from here. So as a company this is definitely the closest place we go to race. The speedway does a lot for our fans and the people around us. It’s definitely our company’s home track.”

KEVIN – ACCORDING TO WHAT I’M LOOKING AT I GUESS THIS IS YOUR FOURTH WIN IN YOUR 97TH CAREER TRUCK START, CAN YOU JUST TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT HOW TOUGH IT IS TO WIN IN THIS SERIES?

“I think this is a great place to start your career and to be able to make some mistakes in the first 50 or 75, I don’t know how many starts it was. I think if you look at how we’ve done since we’ve had the company, we have done a lot better. It’s just the way it works.”

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), one of the world’s largest automakers, was founded in 1908, and today manufactures cars and trucks in 34 countries. With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 244,500 people in every major region of the world, and sells and services vehicles in some 140 countries. In 2008, GM sold 8.35 million cars and trucks globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM’s largest national market is the United States, followed by China, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia and Germany. GM’s OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com.

- GM Racing Communications Press Release